


A happier new year

by dreigiau



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28529316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreigiau/pseuds/dreigiau
Summary: Beau spends every new year alone, too afraid to admit to her friends that she has nowhere to go. It's become monotonous and lonely, but maybe this year something might change?
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Comments: 7
Kudos: 159





	A happier new year

**Author's Note:**

> This is not at all my best work and I wanted to finish it for New Year's Eve, but alas here we are and it's finally finished so hopefully it's not too bad XD
> 
> Oh and also apparently tieflings and half-orcs and aasimars exist in this modern au...

“Beau, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Jester asked for what was probably the fifteenth time that morning. “Mama won’t mind at all, in fact she’d probably love to see you!”

“No, no! Honestly Jes it’s fine, I’ve already got plans so -“ Beau shrugged in response.

“Okay okay” Jester sighed and threw her arms around her best friend’s neck as she hugged her tightly. “But y’know, if you get like super bored or whatever just come to the Chateau, okay? It’s gonna be like super fun, and no offence but your parents don’t sound all that fun…”

“Thanks Jes,” Beau laughed gently and hugged the tiefling in return. “It’ll be fine, I promise. Family obligation and all that, y’know?”

“Ugh I know, I know, but you’re our family too Beau! Do you want me to like send your Dad a message or something and -“

Beau’s eyes widened and she quickly shook her head. “No! No don’t do that, Jes” the laugh she let out was filled with nerves and she just hoped her friend didn’t notice. 

“Alright, but if you change your mind -“

“I’ll be sure to call you” she laughed and let go of Jester just as Fjord came out of the apartment door opposite.

“You about ready to go, Jester?” asked the tall Half-Orc, a backpack strap slung over one shoulder.

“Yes, _Fjord_ ” she replied in a tone that Beau could only assume was meant to sound irritated but the complete and utter heart eyes that the blue tiefling was giving him caused it to lose any effect.

Beau smiled and reached out to squeeze Fjord’s shoulder gently. “Good luck meeting the parents” she teased, a smirk on the corner of her lips.

“I have met them before, Beau” he reminded her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever man. You weren’t the _boyfriend_ then - it’s completely different” she teased, her smirk growing as she saw Fjord’s green skin begin to pale.

She squeezed his shoulder once more. “You’ll be fine, man”

“Mama already loves you, Fjord. You just have to charm the pants off my Dad” Jester shrugged as she rejoined them in the doorway after grabbing her own backpack. 

“Maybe don’t _actually_ charm the pants off of him though...that might be kinda awkward” the human teased before being wrapped in a one armed hug from Fjord.

“Have a good one, Beau. We’ll see you next year” he grinned, releasing her and immediately letting Jester take his hand.

The two of them were such a cute couple and it kind of made Beau a little sick. It was a good job she adored them!

“Bye Beau, happy new year!” Jester beamed. “Oh and Yasha’s gonna come over and feed Sprinkle so don’t like put the alarm on or something when you leave!”

“Y - Yasha’s home?” Beau hated how she struggled to get her words out as her mind was suddenly flooded with the image of Fjord and Caduceus’ stunning flatmate. 

“Yeah... she doesn’t really have anyone but us so...” Jester frowned, clearly hating that one of their friends didn’t get to visit loved ones.

“Right, right yeah” Beau nodded, clearing her throat and trying not to focus on how it felt to think of one of their friends being alone. 

“I’ve left her a note of what Sprinkle likes but maybe give him a treat before you leave?” Jester suggested, interrupting Beau’s thoughts.

“And risk losing a fucking finger?!”

“Beauuuu”

“Alright, alright” She rolled her eyes. “Now go - and say hi to your Mom for me!”

“Bye Beau!” Jester smiled, squeezed Fjord’s hand and the two of them began making their way out of the apartment building.

Beau sighed and closed the door behind them, leaning back against it with a frown.

Yasha was staying home.

Yasha was coming to their place to feed Sprinkle.

This was going to be an issue.

—

The afternoon went by quickly and Beau spent most of it laying on the couch watching Netflix. 

(Though she really should be coming up with a plan for the impending Yasha problem)

As far as her friends were concerned she would be halfway to Kamordah by now, ready for a perfectly normal and likely pleasant New Years with her family.

Only that had never been her intention. 

In fact she probably wouldn’t return to Kamordah for a million gold pieces. 

It was just that, despite knowing the Nein for close on five years now, she had still not found a way to admit that she was pretty much estranged from her parents.

And the longer the lie went on, the harder it got to admit to the truth. So every new year she lied about going to their place and spent it alone in the apartment. 

This year would be no different. 

Or at least she assumed so.

—

It was around 4.30 when the knock at the door came.

With a huff of frustration Beau reached blindly for the remote, fumbled around for a moment and managed to pause the tv before sliding off the couch and to her feet. 

Another knock.

“Yeah alright, I’m coming” she grumbled, yawning a little as she crossed the apartment and flung open the door.

For all the brain cells that Beau possessed she rarely remembered to use them. 

She had not at all thought this through, and it wouldn’t have been a difficult one to figure out if she had even for a moment contemplated who might be standing on the other side of the door.

“Yasha...hey…” She stared up at the taller woman, one hand gripping the door frame bracing herself because yes, it had been a year since the mysterious Aasimar had walked into their lives but somehow the sight of her still made Beau weak at the knees.

“Hello Beau…” her voice was soft as always, a trace of a smile on her lips. Lips that would probably feel so good pressed against -

_Wait, no. Stop that trail of thought_

Beau mentally scalded herself and tried to remember what words were. 

“What uh - why are you…” Gods Yasha must think she was such a weirdo, she could barely ever string a sentence together when the two of them were alone. “Fuck, you’re here for Sprinkle, right?” She asked, suddenly remembering Jester’s words from a few hours ago. “Look don’t worry about it, I can sort it…”

“Oh”

Was that disappointment in her tone?

“Actually I…” Yasha’s gaze dropped from Beau to instead stare at the ground as she thought over the words she wanted to speak. “I uh - I just noticed that you hadn’t left your apartment and Jester said you were going to your family and -“ she paused, bit her lip and forced herself to look back up at Beau. “I’m not a creep…I promise…”

Beau smiled and shook her head. “I know you’re not a creep, Yash”

“Good”

Beau offered another smile and tried her best not to think about what a mess she looked right now. If she’d known Yasha was going to show up at her door she would have made more of an effort.

“I don’t mean to pry, and I won’t ask any questions but I -“ she awkwardly glanced down at the bottle of whisky in her hand. “Veth sent this when she heard I couldn’t join them and whilst I could drink it myself I probably shouldn’t…” Yasha paused, thought over her words and then added. “And I don’t really want to drink alone…”

Beau just stared, eyes moving from the bottle of whisky to Yasha then back to the bottle, her brow furrowing as she processed the other woman’s words.

“You know this was a stupid idea. You probably have plans and I -“

“You wanna spend New Year’s with me?”

The words that left her mouth surprised even Beau as much as they seemed to surprise Yasha. 

“I mean...if uh, only if you don’t have plans or something…” she shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant way. 

The smile that spread across Yasha’s face took Beauregard’s breath away and she was thankful for the doorframe holding her steady.

“Well, I uhm...I was hoping to make plans with you…” she admitted as she laughed softly and raised the hand that held the whisky to make a point.

“Yeah I’m uh...little slow on the uptake today” Beau grinned in return. “Sorry?” She offered.

“No it’s - we got there in the end” Yasha shrugged, she was still smiling and it was becoming infectious.

“Yeah…” Beau laughed happily. “So uh - your place or mine?”

There was a moment before Beau realised what she’d just said and then heat flooded her face as she turned red.

Yasha though just raised her eyebrows and smirked.

“Thought you’d never asked” she replied teasingly before nodding towards the apartment behind Beau. “Your place if you like?”

“Yeah sure, man” Beau mumbled and quickly moved out of the way to let Yasha inside.

Yasha smiled as she passed Beau, but the smaller woman barely noticed, too distracted by the gentle scent of Yasha’s perfume as she brushed by.

“Hey is that the uh, the perfume that we got -“

“For my birthday? Yeah” Yasha smiled and nodded, placing the whisky on the kitchen counter before turning back to look at Beau.

“It’s - it’s nice” she replied before quickly turning to close the door to the apartment to hide her blush. 

“Jester said you chose it…”

Fuck. What was it about this woman that caused Beau to lose any tact?

“WelI I mean she dragged me around basically every single store in Zadash, and I _hate_ shopping” she admitted with a soft laugh. 

“That makes it more special then” Yasha shrugged and smiled. 

Beau ducked her head and bit her lip, “For what it’s worth I never really thought perfume was the _perfect_ gift for you” she explained.

Yasha shrugged and leant back against the kitchen counter and for a moment Beau was distracted by how right the Aasimar looked in her home.

“It meant a lot because it was from friends,” she explained softly. “And it’s been a long time since I’ve had people I could call friends” 

Beau smiled sadly and headed over to join Yasha in the kitchen area. She knew small snippets of Yasha’s past and the tragedy of it. She could only take a small bit of solace in knowing that Yasha had a good group of friends now - the Nein were a _family_.

“Well you definitely don’t have to worry about that anymore” she promised, gently squeezing Yasha’s arm, trying not to think about the muscle she felt beneath the taller woman’s shirt.

Or at least, storing it away to think about later. 

“It’s probably a little early for whisky, right?” she asked as she released Yasha and took the bottle to place on the counter.

“Probably” Yasha agreed with a soft smile.

“Hot cocoa?” Beau offered, “Or uh - coffee?”

“Coffee would be good, I had a late night…”

“Oh yeah? Were you working?” Beau asked as she reached up to try grab a couple of mugs.

“Yeah, didn’t get back until 5 this morning” 

Beau was in the middle of processing Yasha’s words when she suddenly felt a warm body right behind her as Yasha reached up and easily located the last two mugs on the top shelf.

“Uh, thanks…” Beau mumbled, swallowing hard and willing her heart to stop pounding just from the feel of Yasha so close. “Don’t know why we keep them up there when neither of us can reach” she chuckled nervously, starting to work on brewing the coffee.

“Luckily you have quite a few tall neighbours just across the hallway” Yasha smiled, remaining close to Beau as she worked. 

It was definitely a little distracting.

“Yeah, tall...you’re uh, you’re really fucking tall…” she found herself beginning to mutter.

The smile on Yasha’s face grew slightly, and well that was distracting too. “I think I’m actually the shortest of the three of us” she pointed out. 

Caduceus towered above both her _and_ Fjord.

“Right yeah, well I mean you’re really tall for a woman…” Beau sort of wished she could stop herself talking.

“Yeah I’ve been told that quite a lot…” 

“Not that it uh - I mean it’s y’know…” Beau fumbled over her words, feeling like she might have offended the other woman. “It’s hot - kinda hot” she finally settled on, face beginning to redden as she focused on getting the bottle of milk out of the fridge. 

There was a pause before Yasha’s response came.

“ _Kinda?_ ” 

Beau faltered for a moment before turning to Yasha, holding out a mug of coffee. The Aasimar took it with a smile, their fingers brushing for a moment before Beau took a step back.

“Okay okay, you’re hot, alright?” Beau shrugged, holding Yasha’s gaze for only a moment before focusing on grabbing her own drink. “And the being tall thing is hot too”

“Thank you” Yasha responded softly, her eyes curiously watching Beau as the human lifted her coffee and took a sip. 

“Fuck” she immediately placed the mug back down on the kitchen counter. “Coffee’s hot too” she grumbled.

Yasha laughed. And everything just felt _right_. 

\--

“Hey, I thought you would have been working tonight?”

Yasha looked up from the movie they had been watching for the last thirty minutes and glanced at Beau on the other side of the couch. 

“I was supposed to be,” she nodded. “But they uh - they said they felt bad that I had worked all the other holidays this year, so they would manage new years without me” she shrugged. 

Beau nodded. 

“But you would have been more than happy to work tonight” she replied gently, it wasn’t necessarily a question. 

“I have nowhere else to go, so yes, I suppose so” 

“Well, you’re here now” Beau smiled gently and when Yasha returned it her heart might have skipped just a little. “Hey uh - you said you didn’t get home until 5am? Why aren’t you asleep right now?” she asked amusedly. 

Yasha did look a little tired but she mostly always did. It was a perk of late nights working behind a bar - Beau should know, she had spent a couple years doing it herself through college. 

Her question had been meant jokingly, but suddenly Yasha’s demeanour changed. A soft blush crept up her neck, colouring the pale skin of her face and she was suddenly staring back at the tv, perhaps pretending not to have heard. 

Beau let it go for a few moments, blue eyes focused keenly on the other woman before a soft smile spread over her face. 

“Come on, Yash, this movie is utter garbage - you can’t pretend you didn’t hear me because you were so engrossed in it…” she insisted, shifting so that her legs were tucked under her body and she could angle herself towards Yasha a little more.

The Aasimar bit her lip and then glanced at Beau, a hesitant expression on her face. “I wanted to wish you a happy new year…” she admitted quietly. 

Beau’s eyes widened ever so slightly at that admission and she didn’t know quite what to think of it - just that it did things to her. 

“Oh” was all she could really manage to muster, because sure they were friends but somehow it felt like it meant more that Yasha had given up extra sleep just to say a few words to her. 

“And I suppose I was sort of hoping that maybe we could spend it together...since you know, neither of us had anywhere to go…”

Beau swallowed thickly and watched Yasha carefully for a beat or two. She was pretty sure she had told everyone she was going back to Kamordah for new years, and even if she hadn’t directly told Yasha surely one of the others would have mentioned it?

“Didn’t Jester ask you to feed Sprinkle?”

“Yes, she did”

Silence fell between them for a few moments, as if the two of them were waiting to see who dared to push the topic further. 

Eventually it was Yasha. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have presumed. And I don’t - you don’t need to tell me your story or anything but I just...when Jester said you were going to your parents I guess I just had this feeling that it wasn’t quite the truth”

“Oh”

Yasha frowned, clearly worried she was overstepping here, but she chose to continue anyway.

“Whenever we are all together as a group you really thrive on it, you’re always the heart and soul of the conversation” the Aasimar began to explain, a smile on the corner of her lips. “But then if the conversation ever strays towards family...things change”

Beau bit her lip and glanced down at her lap. 

“You always shy away from the conversation, or go to make more drinks, or anything really to get away from it…”

“You’re very perceptive”

“I’ve seen you, Beau” she shrugged, her voice as soft as it had ever really been. “I’ve seen you a lot”

Beauregard’s stomach fluttered at those words, at the thought of being seen, truly _seen_ by this wonderful woman that she was lucky enough to call her friend. This woman who somehow had seen through the tough exterior, and the carefully placed mistruths, had seen the broken and empty pieces of her life and instead of calling her out on it had instead gravitated towards her, tried to offer some companionship in loneliness. 

“I always figured it would be Cad that’d figure me out…” Beau eventually responded, trying to subtly wipe at the tear that had started to form in the corner of her eye. 

“Sorry…” Yasha offered and Beau immediately shook her head.

“No it’s -” she sighed and shrugged. “Honestly, it’s sort of a relief for someone to know,” she admitted, a sad smile crossing her face. “I don’t - I don’t know why I’ve always just pretended that I have a good relationship with them” she began to explain. “I guess I just saw how close Jester and her Mom are and -” she shrugged once more. “Didn’t want her to think I was weird for not having that, and then the longer it went on the harder it became to just admit the truth”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Beau…”

“Yeah I know” she replied, but she didn’t exactly sound like she believed her own words.

“Whatever the story is, Beau - you’re an amazing person and they are missing out on that”

“Thanks” she whispered and let herself look up at Yasha, getting caught in that stunning gaze. “I mean, I’m really not anything special, but you know, thanks for saying it anyway...”

“You are special, Beau. To me…”

“Oh”

“I mean, all of you are. The entire Nein are - I never thought I would have a family again…”

“Me neither” 

The two smiled, their eyes fixed on one another, for a few moments and then it got too much for Beau and she cleared her throat quickly turning back to the tv.

“This movie’s kinda shit. Shall we choose something else?”

“Yes, that sounds good,” Yasha agreed gently.

—

The rest of the afternoon went quickly. 

Not having to lie to Yasha meant that Beau felt more relaxed than she had in a long time and the only thing that was worrying her now was how she was going to deal with that fact that she was 100%, very much into one of her best friends.

Because she had _always_ been attracted to Yasha, since the very first moment Fjord and Caddy had introduced the rest of the Nein to their new housemate, but being alone with her today had made Beau realise there was definitely more to it. 

Maybe she had been lonely for too long but she felt a really strong kinship with Yasha. It felt like they just understood one another in ways that other members of their friendship group couldn’t. And as much as Beauregard had found herself wanting to make a move over the last year she had always refrained. Not only was there a lot to lose - she valued Yasha’s friendship highly - but she respected the other woman too much and knew that she was still going through a lot of shit from her past. 

But being alone with Yasha was a lot of fun, and it was becoming harder to remember she couldn’t ruin their friendship. (Even if Yasha definitely seemed to be flirting with her)

And it turned out that the often reserved woman had a sense of humour that Beau hadn’t really had the opportunity to experience before, and she couldn’t remember laughing so much in a long while.

“Hey why’d I never know how funny you are?” She asked as she rifled through the kitchen drawer looking for takeout menus.

“I don’t know. But let me know if you figure it out because I didn’t realise either” Yasha shrugged from where she sat on the couch looking over at Beau.

“I like it. You’re usually so quiet” she smiled, gathering all the menus and heading back over to the couch. “You should talk more” she added with a shrug as she threw herself back down on the couch beside Yasha.

The other woman was looking at her with a slightly furrowed brow and Beau immediately felt terrible. 

“Fuck. I mean -” she could feel her face reddening for what felt like the hundredth time today. “Ignore me. You shouldn’t change. You’re per - you’re great, really great” she began to ramble, trying not to make Yasha feel bad. “I just mean that I uh, I like talking with you and well -”

“Beau” Yasha was smiling, brighter than she usually did. “It’s fine, really” she promised. “I know what you meant, and I like talking with you too…” she insisted. 

“Okay okay, good” she nodded and passed over the takeout menus. “Now choose what you wanna eat so I can stop talking”

Yasha chuckled softly and took the menus from Beau, beginning to rifle through them. 

\--

In the end they settled on pizza, and not too much later found themselves surrounded by a ridiculous amount of boxes. 

“Remind me why we ordered so much?”

“Well every time you found one that I’d never tried you said ‘you have to try this one, it’s dope’ - and you apparently found a lot that I hadn’t tried…”

Beau laughed softly but soon stopped. 

“Oh man it hurts to laugh!”

“I imagine that happens when you’re that size and eat _that_ much” 

Beau rolled her eyes and then lifted the bottom of her t-shirt to gently rub her stomach. 

“I think I’m probably gonna have a pizza baby” she grumbled, looking down at the exposed skin. 

Yasha’s eyes also moved to take in the well-defined abs of her friend, laughing softly at Beau’s words. 

“You checking me out, Yash?” she teased, a grin on her face as she looked up at the other woman. 

She expected the Aasimar to blush and deny it but instead she lifted her eyes to meet Beau’s and shrugged amusedly. “I have a feeling that you’d be more offended if I said I weren’t”

Beau grinned at that and waggled her eyebrows. “You know me too well” 

Yasha smiled and sat back against the couch, watching amusedly as Beau reached for another slice of pizza. 

“What??” she asked as she noticed Yasha watching.

“Nothing” the taller woman laughed and shook her head a little at her friend’s actions. 

“Hey...Beau…” she began after a few moments of quiet between them. 

“Yeah?”

“Weird question but uh - are you...are you seeing anyone at the moment?”

“Huh, what?” Beau almost choked on the last bite of pizza, surprised by the topic of Yasha’s question. “Uh, no…” she swallowed thickly and glanced over at the other woman. “No there’s - there’s no one” She decided to leave out the part that there hadn’t actually been anyone in a long while. “Are you?”

The moment the question left her mouth regret filled her. 

“Fuck. I’m sorry, that was - I didn’t mean…” 

That had been a stupid question. She knew Yasha’s story, she knew the tragedy of her past and of Zuala. It was a big part of why she had never acted on her feelings for the other woman. 

“There’s _no one_?” Yasha asked, ignoring Beau’s apologies. 

Beau’s brow furrowed slightly as she studied Yasha, trying to get a read on her. “No…” she replied softly. 

It was a lie. 

_There’s you_ she wanted to say. 

“Okay”

Beau frowned and bit her lip, still studying Yasha, trying to figure out where this was going. 

She did _not_ want to get her hopes up. 

“Then would it - I mean...can I…” the confidence that had been in Yasha’s tone began to dissipate. 

“What is it Yash?” Beau hated the shakiness to her own voice.

“You’re meant to kiss someone at midnight, right?”

And _fuck_ , that was definitely not what Beau had been expecting. 

“Uhm, I mean - I guess so, yeah…I dunno, it’s a bit of a stupid Empire tradition, I don’t know if they have it anywhere else, or in Xhorhas, but -” she suddenly paused, realisation washing over her and her eyes widening slightly. “Oh”

Yasha was suggesting that they should -

“We don’t have to…” the aasimar quickly insisted but Beau was shaking her head before she could really even think about it.

“No I - I mean, it’s your first new year in the Empire, right? Gotta get the full experience…” she found herself saying whilst wondering where the fuck this confidence had come from.

Yasha bit her lip, eyes searching Beau’s. “Only if it’s not going to make things weird…”

Beau’s eyes searched Yasha’s carefully. “I mean...it’ll change things” she said softly, she couldn’t pretend that it would just be a ‘it’s new year’ thing for her. 

“In a bad way?”

The worry in Yasha’s tone made Beauregard’s heart ache.

“No I - not necessarily…” she shrugged in response. 

She didn’t know what would happen. But she did know that if Yasha kissed her then she was going to want it to happen again, and again. It was already hard enough to fight the attraction for her friend. 

“I like you, Beau…” 

It wasn’t what she expected Yasha to say, but neither had most of the things the other woman had said tonight.

“Yeah I uh - I like you a lot too…” she found herself admitting sheepishly, lifting a hand to rub the back of her neck.

They didn’t make it to midnight. 

They barely made it ten more minutes, meeting somewhere in the middle in a slow and hesitant kiss. 

And by the time midnight came the hesitance was gone, and everything the two had felt but had been trying to ignore for the last year came to the surface as fireworks began to go off in the world around them. 

When they finally broke apart there was nothing but the two of them, their foreheads pressed together as they clung to one another. 

“Happy new year, Beau…”

“Yeah. Yeah I uh - I think it might be…” she whispered in response, her thumb brushing Yasha’s jaw gently, her eyes searching the other woman’s before she leant in and captured her lips in yet another soft kiss.

And for the first time in a long time she wasn’t entering the new year filled with loneliness, but instead with a hope for what the coming months might bring.


End file.
